The Network conference this year will be at Hope University in Liverpool on the Hope Park campus. Most accommodation is onsite, with self catering an option. No onsite camping - we asked and cajoled, but they wouldn't budge. Provisional timings are registration opens on Friday evening with the main conference programme starts Saturday morning and finishes Monday lunchtime. Planning has started for a full programme of workshops, themes and events. More details will be announced soon starting with full accessibility info next week.http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-03-23/transition-network-2011...

March News Round Up

This month there is a report from Colombia where they recently held their first Transition Trainings; in Japan there was an all-Japan Transition Town meeting plus they’ve started a bilingual wiki site called ‘Transition Town in Asia’. Meanwhile down in Australia Riddell launched with a local food fare. Projects around the UK include refurbished bikes in Grangemouth, a ‘Big Green Day’ in Abbots Langley, South Ribble clothes swapping party, and a light bulb amnesty in Andover. In North America, there was a 2-day Economic Summit in Putney and a conference on localised food systems in Colorado. Transition Guelph held a Resilience Festival combined with their Great Unleashing.
Details on these and many more:http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-04-01/march-round-whats-happe...

In July 2008, Somerset County Council passed a resolution supporting its local Transition initiatives. Since then it has become clear that what started so boldly and with such great promise has since fallen away. In the spirit of learning from such reversals, this piece explores what we can learn from recent developments in Somerset, and also what we might draw from them in relation to the government’s current ‘localism’ agenda.http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-03-11/somerset-transition-rev...

At the end of Klein's visit Rob Hopkins interviewed her. In part one she says that our “… world view is killing us and needs to be replaced with another world view…” while in part two she emphasised that “we must address inequality if we’re going to deal with climate change”:
[1] http://bit.ly/fFhxL0 [2] http://bit.ly/gAavHt

During his visit, Heinberg was interviewed jointly by Rob Hopkins, Ben Brangwyn of Transition Network and Frances Northrop of Transition Town Totnes. “I think 2011 is going to be an interesting year… in the Chinese sense…” he said.
Interview part one: http://bit.ly/heinberg-part1
Interview part two: http://bit.ly/heinberg-part2

18-year-old Ross Harrison spent a year chasing up experts, studying the news and filming to create a short documentary that answers the ever-pressing questions: are we really causing climate change, and who cares? The result is a 40 minute film available to download about the knowns and the unknowns of the science, about the risks, and about being hopeful for the future too.www.beyondthebrink.org

Transition Town Lewes's energy company, Ovesco, is planning to build Britain's first community-owned solar power station this summer. It's launching a share issue at Lewes Town Hall on 19 April to raise £306,000 from investors to pay for 544 solar panels on the warehouse roof of the town's favourite brewery, Harveys. They need raise at least £250,000 by 9 May in order to get the scheme installed and registered for the full FITs by 1st August. Your chance to invest in renewable energy.http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-04-01/uk-first-community-owne...

Three views on nuclear power:

Ten reasons why new nuclear was a mistake – even before Fukushima
It’s hardly a surprise that building nuclear power stations on seismic fault lines, as Japan has done, turns out to be a foolish thing. In the pause for reflection about the safety of nuclear power that the Fukushima disaster is bound to create, here are ten reasons why it’s a mistake to build a new round of nuclear power stations in the UK.http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2011-03-15/ten-reason...

Nuclear: We get the power but future generations get the waste
We should always act to avoid harming all living beings, not only those living now but especially those who will live in the future, who will be far greater in number. Nuclear energy is a uniquely risky enterprise precisely because its consequences are so long-lasting and so difficult to deal with if catastrophe ever strikes nuclear power plants.http://transitionvoice.com/2011/03/we-get-the-power-but-future-generatio...

Nuclear power’s last ditch effort
The industry began generating electricity as a side business to its main political role of creating the material for nuclear weapons. Neither the public nor the markets were involved. In communications terms the nuclear industry has to do two things: make sure that the public does not get to decide AND create the impression that renewables don’t work.http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/transition-voice/2011-03-24/nucle...

EVENTS
~ Quaker and Transition Conference
~ 9th International Peak Oil Conference of ASPO - Brussels
~ EarthHeart Weekend (The Work That Reconnects) with Chris Johnstone
These and more details herehttp://www.transitionnetwork.org/events